Sessler's Soapbox: Why the Supreme Court's Ruling Matters
Posted: June 28, 2011
Adam drops an extended Soapbox to go into detail about how the Supreme Court's ruling matters to the gaming industry, gamers, and Americans.
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Comments are Closed
Comments
Displaying 21–40 of 106
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misfitkid86
you know, the notion of censorship is so scary to me, the notion that someone whom i may or may not know dictating what i watch, listen or play seems so foreign and evil. with that said i find that some parents don't in fact have an idea what the ratings mean, just the other day i had to explain it to a mother who couldn't be any older than thirty five. i think the notion overall from people who do not play games is that they (games) are for kids only, and that we need to be extra careful, to many people outside of this "gaming" world the esrb doesn't exist or doesn't matter. with that said, i think this decision is an overall win for free speech and yes even the very notion of freedom. as it's said:" i disagree with your opinion but i'll defend to death your right to say it!"
DanAbare86
This law would had effect alot. I am planning to try an make some video games in the future. I am going to school to learn how to make video games. I stil don't know why trying pass a law regulating video games when there is allrrady something all ready doing that. Another thing have a problem bwith is one people that is trying to get this law pass. This person is Arnold Schwarzenegger. This guy was in a ton of violent movies he is agaist violent video game.
RoyaltyGamer
This weeks soapbox was so good I thank you Adam !
radion_null
Sessler needs to go to the daily show and have a chat with Stewart on this law... See 6/30/11 taping of the daily show! :)
xterrencex
Adam, you make a very good point that I agree with as far as the law would restrict the sell of video games due to vendors being worried that they would be fined for the selling of a game to a minor illegally. Do you think, however, that it might have also sped up the process of creating more stores like Steam so that the games could still be sold?
wraith6788
Well spoken on the topic. I agree that this was an important matter that would have opened the door as a legal precedent for all manner of censoring legislation. I don't however agree with the cooling effect argument. Stiff penalties of similar weight exist for the sale of alcohol and tobacco to minors yet retailers abound for those goods. While those goods are likely less elastic than video games and therefore worth more risk the amount of money that the M category brings in suggests that someone in the retail community would stay in. When you sell millions of copies of COD in one day the odd 1000 dollar fine is an acceptable operating expense. I am not supporting more fines or less fines I just think that aspect of the 'fear' created by this law may have bean a little exaggerated. Ultimately though more protected rights and less government regulation of personal lives is always a good thing in my book.
sentient_cheese
TPLarkin7- I find this funny, because this is not a conservative value, this is an AMERICAN value. you'll find us peacniks and hippies cheering this ruling as well. The gov't has no business sticking its nose into speech.
The difference of our opinion lies in what direction we come at the problem. Conservative values look at how it affects business, Liberal Values look at how it affects society. Would that our government took a look at both sides equally, I think you would find us on a much happier track here in the states.
tplarkin7
It's amazing to see conservative values defended in the gaming media. Adam Sessler, Rush Limbaugh, and I are one on this issue.
CombaticusCarl
In my opinion even if the law was upheld no single game could ever fit the description. As the third criteria states it must have no artist, education, or scientific value. No person or committee on earth is qualified to say wiether or not a game has any of those qualities. As long as one person see's one of those values, under the miller test it can not be labled as obscene
wyman856
A little off topic here, but has anyone else seen the Violent Video Game episode of Penn and Teller BS? The one thing I remember from that is when P&T's crew decided to have an experiment. In this experiment, they allowed a boy whose mother allowed him to play M rated violent video games (i think the kid said CoD4 was his favorite game but don't quote me) to fire a weapon under police and military supervision. Surprisingly, the kid had so much disdain for firing the weapon, that afterwards he was literally reduced to tears. The point being, there is an enormous difference between reality and fantasy which everyone but the truly insane comprehend.
wyman856
A little off topic here, but has anyone else seen the Violent Video Game episode of Penn and Teller BS? The one thing I remember from that is when P&T's crew decided to have an experiment. In this experiment, they allowed a boy whose mother allowed him to play M rated violent video games (i think the kid said CoD4 was his favorite game but don't quote me) to fire a weapon under police and military supervision. Surprisingly, the kid had so much disdain for firing the weapon, that afterwards he was literally reduced to tears. The point being, there is an enormous difference between reality and fantasy which everyone but the truly insane comprehend.
bricewgilbert
Agree with pretty much everything Adam said however I still think the Movie theater owners and platform holders need to stop banning NC-17 and AO rated content. They have every right to do so, but I don't see any good real reasons why they should do it. It just limits creative expression.
FalleStar
Self-policing works well depending on the industry. It seems to be working pretty well for the video game industry; however, there are plenty of examples of it NOT working well (~cough~BP~cough~).
suryu
lol if you don't know something ask questions how dumb or to busy there parents are that they don't know what their kids are bringing into the house when u see him/her playing the game ask to see the cover ask the store clerk im buying a game for my child what is this rating system if u don't care then stfu.. also if a kid buys a game and plays it at a friends house what can you do nothing call the mom that don't care what her son plays i don't think so. do u think if ur child wanted to have relations with their boyfriend/girldfriend you can stop them nope its all in the way u raised your kids so stop looking for something to blame for ur bad parenting
Hinanator
Thanks, good episode.
kerry650
I have long felt that any proposed legislation directed at video games is born out of a contempt for the medium. It seems as though the Roger Ebert short-sighted view is that the medium itself is trash, and therefore, all content produced therein is dismissable as trash is the true motivation for these attempts. There are countless stories, across all news media, about video game addiction, video game violence, and video game sexuality. Professional opinions about cathartic release of anger and aggression in a virtual space helping people to go about their lives without acting out in the "real world" are completely ignored. I know that if I use my chainsaw lancer on someone's face in Gears of War, I feel much better afterwards, and am far less likely to chainsaw someone's face in my workplace. Perhaps if all those "disgruntled postal employees" of the '80's had played more Space Invaders, there would have been far less violence associated with them. Or maybe the USPS just needed a better vetting system.
edd209
just i minor point, i work for the target chain, in the electronics department, we have rating plastered all over the video games area, and we require a valid id for some one to buy a m rated game, so i wholeheartedly agree with the ruling and points mentioned, parents should police there kids and they need to decide what is in-appropriate so i am glad that this happened and also glad that so many people have an opinion
lschlutt7337
its just one more way for the Government to control us. I don't understand why they just wont let us take care of ourselves, they want their opinions and laws down our throats as much as possible. How is that living free in America?
I believe its up to the parents not the government regarding video games. Its up to the parents if a kid wants a certain video game to look at the box the game comes in, read about it, maybe even go to youtube.com and check out what the game is all about. Whats going on right now is unconstitutional!
And we wonder why our country is going down the tubes.
New rule for the American people, never elect the same person twice.
Decogon
Side note: I like these longer Soapboxes
On topic: I live in the UK and, as Adam mentoned, the UK equivalent of the ESRB ratings carry the force of law. I do not think this would have worked in the USA. I believe this for two reasons:
1) From what I understand of this law, it was not written in the same way that the UKs law was written or for the same purpose as the UK law was written. The law in the UK was introduced to give retailers adequate grounds to refuse the sale of mature rated games to unaccompanied minors without fear of being sued etc. This Californian law seems to have been written with the specific intention of introducing active governmental policing and control measures into the video games industry. For what purpose, I couldn't say. The UK law was also written in a very specific and careful manner and, almost litteraly, reads as "Retailers are not allowed to sell mature rated games to minors.". The law in the US seems to have been very broad and open to interpretation which could essentially lead to abuse of that law by certain government entities. Again, for what purpose, I do not know.
2) The law in the UK secifically leaves the ratings of games up to our equivalents of the ESRB (ours is the PEGI, but the BBFC also gets a say for some unknown reason). The Californian law seems to have been more concerned with having a governmental entity overseeing the classification of M-rated games.
Having said all this, I'm still a little shocked that only 80% of stores in the US would refuse the sale of a game to a minor. But that could be because I'm used to the UK of pretty much 100% refusing to sell a game to someone who looks under the age of 21 without ID (they ask you for ID if you look under 21 but they will sell the game to you if you are actually 18+. It just avoids the "well he looked like he was 18" argument in court).
Tally up another notch on the victory board for video games. Now I'm off to play me some Oblivion in preparation for Skyrim :D
nightwng2000
Concluded...
With so many individuals wanting to manipulate what OTHERS read, the music they listen to, or other art forms to be enjoyed or contemplated over, by declaring the material in violation of "community standards" based on "sexual content", it is NOT difficult to imagine that had said video game bill passed muster, then "violent content" would easily be argued by many as fully inclusive in censorship and banning demands under "community standards". Again, we already KNOW from decades of experience that what was believed to be a narrow law would, in fact, be used by many to dictate what OTHERS, not merely the individual or Parent who dislikes the content, should or should not find appropriate for themselves or their children.
Fact number 4: Contrary to the misinformation that there are NO protections for Parents at the retail level, in point of fact, most brick and mortar retailers DO have voluntary set policies in place regarding various products which they sell. These have long since been in place and, in fact, many a merchant associations actually requires members to have such policies in place to be members in the first place.
It should also be noted that for nearly 10 years, the FTC has almost yearly performed a secret shopper study to determine compliance with various policies, including those policies involving computer/video game sales and DVD sales. And, every year that it has been done, compliance has risen to now nearly 80% compliance. A percentage which, in fact, actually exceeds compliance of DVD (TV/movie) sales.
So much for the claim that the industry and retailers are NOT aiding Parents voluntarily in some fashion.
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